Avi Lewis defends Yom Kippur message called ‘despicable,’ claims critics are after ‘partisan points’

OTTAWA — NDP Leader Avi Lewis defended his social media post made on Yom Kippur saying his fellow Jews had “failed” to do enough to stop a “genocide,” referencing the war between Israel and Hamas, and accused critics Tuesday of trying to “score partisan points” after he was assailed for the comments.

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Lewis’s message was posted on Sunday evening, as the Jewish holiday was beginning and just before news broke that a police office had been critically injured when a gunman opened fire at a Belleville, Ont. synagogue where worshippers had gathered for the evening. The gunman, a 29-year-old former Canadian Armed Forces soldier, later died in hospital after an exchange of gunfire.

“Holding Canadian Jews and Jews across the world collectively responsible for events over which they have no control is despicable,” Liberal MP Anthony Housefather said on X in response to Lewis’s post.

Lewis, who like Housefather is Jewish, had posted: “This year I’m reflecting on the fact that we failed to do our part to stop an ongoing genocide committed in our name. There are many other fronts where I have to do the work of repair. But nothing on this scale.”

Liberal MP Ben Carr, who is also Jewish, told reporters on Monday that Lewis’s post was “naive, it was miscalculated, irresponsible, and dangerous.”

On Monday, Lewis accused them of his distorting his comments.

“I did not blame Jews for the actions of the Israeli government, that’s simply untrue,” said Lewis at a press conference on Monday. “Holding Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the State of Israel is antisemitic. I’ve never done it. I think it’s dangerous and that’s absolutely not what I did.”

“I think it’s pretty ugly to see this occasion being used to score partisan points. I won’t be doing that. It was a personal reflection that I know is shared by many people,” said Lewis.

Carr said he couldn’t comprehend how Lewis could offer that response, given what he had written.

“I didn’t quite understand how he was able to come to (that) conclusion that that’s in fact not what he was doing,” said Carr. “When … In fact, he was saying that we as Jews, had not done enough to prevent what was happening.”

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